A place to call home
by IKnowWhatToDo
Summary: A dark power lays dorment inside of Natsu Dragneel. A group wants to use that power to ravage war across all of Earthland. He trys to resist, but this time he doesn't have the love and support of Fairy Tail. AU, possible NatsuXHarem, but nothing sexual.
1. His first time

Master Jose Porla, the powerful leader of the Phantom Lord Guild and one of the great Ten Wizard Saints had just finished a meeting, involving multiple guild leaders, in the city of Magnolia. He despised everything about that city, its guild and, most particularly, he despised Magnolia's Fairy Tail Guild Master, Makarov Dreyar. He just didn't understand how such a pathetic group of talentless mages had come to be ranked number one in all of the land of Fiore.

"One of these days…I will be number one; one way or another," he said in a somewhat sulky manner. As he passed through Magnolia's marketplace, he could hear the empty chatter of the townspeople and merchants. He was already in a poor mood, so the mindless conversions only added to his level of annoyance.

"How's the new viewing lacrima treating you?"

"Oh, I wish he would just man up and ask me out already!"

"Checkmate, I win."

The deeper he went into the market the more and more he started to feel infuriated with the conversations being held around him; in particular, there was one discussion that drove him to the point of insanity.

"Man, Fairy Tail is so cool! When I grow up I'm gonna become a mage and join that guild."

At the mention of the object of his animosity, Jose turned his head to glare at two young children, most likely between the ages six and eight, playing with their Fairy Tail action figures. One had brown hair and was wearing a striped, blue shirt with a pair of overalls while the other had black hair and was dressed in a plain yellow tee-shirt and a pair of jeans.

The boys were playing with a figure of Makarov and a figure of "The Crash Master" Gildarts. Just the mention of the other guild master sent a shiver of dislike up Jose's spine. Even though Makarov and his guild were the bane of Jose's existence, he had to admit that Makarov chose some damn fine mages to be part of his guild.

'_What idiotic playthings.'_

"Me too, I heard that a whole group of guildmasters met earlier today in some sort of secret meeting."

Jose scoffed at the words _secret meeting_. What was considered a big deal for others was nothing but a simple daily chore for him. These pathetic fools truly had nothing to live for. Even if the poor juveniles did have enough magic energy to become mages someday, they could never hope to compare to the mages in the Phantom Lord guild.

"No way. Really?!" the other boy nodded, looking rather proud that he knew something his friend didn't.

"Yeah, but I don't know what they were doing," the boy put a hand up to his chin and lowered his head, looking deep in thought.

"Do you think they were having a battle? That would be so cool!" the young brunette said to his friend as he readjusted his figure's stance.

"I don't know, but if there was, I bet Fairy Tail won it!" the boy with black hair shouted with glee to his friend.

"Do you know any of the other guilds that were there?"

"No, but who cares? Fairy Tail's the only special one."

Jose couldn't stand to listen to any more. He marched over to the young boys and snatched the figures out of their hands. "Idiots, would you want with these? They're nothing more than insignificant dolls!" he said as he crushed the toys between his fingers. He stretched out his hand and showed the boys the remains of their playthings.

"See, just like the real ones; these Fairy Tail mages fall under the strength of a superior mage." All that remained of the beloved toys was dust. Jose briskly cleaned his hands of the debris and smirked at the two boys, who were in tears after watching the destruction of their favorite toys.

As Jose started to walk away, he was delayed by the boy in overalls. "Hey mister, why'd you break our toys like that? That wasn't nice." The boy was trying to look tough despite the tears rolling down his cheeks.

'_Truly pathetic and weak.'_

"Well, unfortunately for you, my dear boy, I am not a very _nice_ person. I will, however, offer you some words of advice. Give up the thought of being a mage because you do not possess the power or the will to become one."

When the boy physically tensed at the harsh words, Jose scoffed and turned to walk off again, only to be halted once again; this time by the other boy. He was starting to get seriously irritated at these insignificant little pests who kept interrupting his departure from this miserable city.

"Listen, you little punk, just like I told your friend, you are not good enough to take on a real mage like me!" Before he could take more than a few steps in the direction of the city gates, he felt a sudden pain course through his lower leg. He looked down to see the second boy retracting his leg from the kick he had just delivered to Master Jose's shin.

The mere thought that some common street rat would disrespect him like this in public was enough to make the guild master red with fury. Without stopping to think about the consequences, he grabbed the boy by the neck and lifted him until they were face to face.

"You little brat! You dare to do that to me? I'll teach you to disrespect me like that!" Jose enveloped his free hand in a fog of shadows. "Now I will teach you the power of a real mage!" The brown-haired boy tugged frantically on the hand Jose had wrapped around his friend's throat while bystanders threatened him in an almost insulting way. Despite these annoyances, Jose's hand continued on its path toward the captive boy.

_**15 minutes earlier**_

It was a good thing that the guild masters' meeting in Magnolia was not supposed to have been kept a secret. It never would have been possible. Fiore's guilds were an often-discussed subject by the general public in Magnolia; maybe because the guilds had so many high-ranking members who were so very…conspicuous. Like the two men currently exiting the Fairy Tail Guild Hall. The extremely short man with white hair wearing a fur-trimmed white tunic with the Fairy Tail emblem on the left collar and the Wizard Saints' symbol at the back was the renowned Fairy Tail Guild Master, Makarov Dreyar. His companion went by the name of "Bob" and despite the fact that he was a bald, cross-dressing, elderly man dressed in a purple spaghetti-strap shirt and vertical-striped pink and purple shorts accessorized by a gold and fuchsia hoop necklace; he maintained the position of Guild Master of the Blue Pegasus Guild. Surprisingly, his fashion-sense wasn't the most remarkable thing about this man. That distinction was reserved for the small, white wings on his back. In spite of their delicate appearance, the appendages enabled the guild master to fly; albeit only for a limited distance. As usual, the mages were attracting a great deal of attention from Magnolia's civilians as they passed through the city.

"Jose and his guild sure have caused a lot of problems recently, haven't they, Bob?"

"That's true, Makarov," Bob sighed, "I was kinda' hoping that Jose would have changed over the past few years. But I guess that's not the case."

Makarov detected something in Bob's voice the caused him to raise an eyebrow and express a sudden interest in Jose's motivation and personal history. "What do you mean? Has something happened that would bring about a change in him?"

"No. Nothing," Bob paused and shook his head, "I was just hoping he would… go back to the way he used to be."

Makarov let out a disappointed sigh, "unfortunately, we both know that that's not going to happen." Makarov let go of the memories and continued with his happy day. "You are truly an oddball, Bob."

Bob chuckled and glanced at Makarov out of the corner of his eye, "Oh please, flattery will get you everywhere, Makarov."

Makarov subtly took a step away from Bob and awkwardly adjusted his tie, "I wasn't really trying to get anywhere," he pointed out.

"Well that's beside the point plus you yourself haven't been making it any easier for the magic council." Bob was now using a serious tone with Makarov, which he hardly ever heard.

Makarov started to chuckle. "I appreciate the concern Bob, but you don't have anything to fret. Getting rid of the number on wizards' guild would cause some major controversy for the council."

"I'm serious Makarov, if your guild causes any more destruction the magic council will not hesitate to disband your guild."

Makarov smiled at his longtime friend, "once again Bob, I appreciate your advice, but I doubt they would take such drastic measures."

Makarov and Bob both laughed at the thought of hundreds and hundreds of angry citizens rioting in front of the ERA with the members of the council panic. Before their thoughts could progress any further, a young man bumped into Makarov sending them both tumbling to the ground.

"Sir, please forgive me. I'm terribly sorry!" The man got to his feet quickly and then scrambled to offer a hand to help the fallen guildmaster up.

Makarov accepted the hand with a smile, "No harm done, my boy. But where are you headed in such a hurry?"

"There's a fight happening right down the street!" As soon as the man said that, he sped off down the street in his original direction.

Makarov mentally paled. A fight in Magnolia usually meant destruction of some sort, mostly always caused by his guilds members. If it was a minor squabble, an acre of land might be destroyed. If the fight was particularly brutal or if they were especially unlucky, an entire city might be annihilated. For the sake of the city and himself, Makarov hoped that the young man had been wrong and that there was no fight.

As Makarov and Bob reached the location of the fight, the scene that met their eyes horrified them to their very cores. There stood Jose, the guild master who was causing such turmoil within the Guild League, with a small boy hanging from his outstretched arm. Makarov looked over at Bob, because he knew that Bob hated to see any sort of abuse especially that of an innocent child. Just as Makarov suspected, Bob was furious at Jose's actions. Makarov looked back to see Jose's shadow -covered hand about to besiege the small boy.

"**JOSE PORLA**! What do you think you are doing? What would possess you to try to harm a child?" Bob's rage scared everyone except for Makarov and Jose. Makarov because he had witnessed that anger first-hand before and Jose, because he didn't seem to think that Bob's power was on the same level as his own. But Jose's hand paused just above his victim's black hair as Bob's words finally penetrated the haze of his fury.

Jose scoffed at both Makarov and Bob. This only seemed to infuriate Bob more. Jose flung the boy at a nearby fruit stand, intending to harm him. Before the boy's body impacted the stand, Bob's delicate wings had carried him across the market to reach the boy. He caught him in his arms and gently set him on the ground to survey his body for damage.

Makarov looked back at Jose with heated eyes, "Jose, I demand you tell me what happened, this instant!" Makarov glanced back at Bob who gave him the thumbs up sign, meaning that the boy was fine.

"Mommy," the boy's whimpers could be heard by all who witnessed this traumatic incident.

"I will ask once more," Makarov's voice rose with each word, "What happened here?!"

"I do not answer to the likes of you, Makarov."

"Jose, I should report you to the magic council for this incident!"

"Then why don't you," Jose said giving Makarov a knowing smirk.

For one dangerous moment as Jose faced him, Makarov thought that the fight he had come to prevent would still take place and he knew that the destruction would be immense. But then, Jose simply shrugged the threat away and continued down the street, not giving them a second look.

'_How far will you go?'_

Makarov's mind spun as he watched Jose walk away. He turned to where Bob still hovered protectively over the shaking boy and his companion. "Young man," he began in a soft tone, conscious of the fear still evident on the boy's face, "What happened here?" In an unsteady voice the boy explained what had led up to the tense scene that the two guild masters had just witnessed.

Makarov knew that Jose had a personal vendetta against Fairy Tail. In fact, if Makarov were honest with himself, he knew that he had probably added fuel to that fire when he had beaten Jose badly in a drunken battle over which guild was the better. But it had never occurred to him that the man's jealousy would drive him this far. He knew what his next course of action had to be; he had to ask the council to remove Phantom Lord as a legal guild.

_**Outskirts of Magnolia**_

A small boy, who looked about the age of 7, was running through the forest rather frantically. His rose pink hair was a dirty mess with twigs and mud particles clinging to it. His clothing was not fairing any better than his hair and was a tattered mess. His small vest had burn marks and blood stains all over it. His stomach and chest were covered with mud and blood. The boy was desperately trying to escape the sound of footsteps behind him.

"Stop running, kid; you're making this a lot harder than it needs to be!"

"Hey boss, maybe I should cut off a leg or two to keep him from running any further." The boy could feel the sick pleasure the man would get from that action in the tone he used.

As he dodged underneath a low-growing tree limb, the boy missed a step and tripped on a root that jutted out from a nearby tree. He landed flat on his stomach, gasping for air after the impact with the ground. He could hear the footsteps of his pursuers slow to a walk and finally stop right behind him.

"Well, well… look what we've got here. Did the little baby trip?" The last bit of the sentence was oozing with mockery.

The boy spun around as quickly as he could so that his back was on the ground and he was facing the men who had been chasing him. He couldn't see their faces because they were covered with the hoods from their cloaks. The cloaks were brown and plain with a single symbol that he could make out; a black coffin.

"What do you guys want?" He gasped. Neither of the two men answered, but the second gave a sinister chuckle.

"Accept your fate with open arms, kid." The first one pulled a dagger from a sheath concealed under his cloak.

As he stepped closer, the boy tried to get up to run again, but was stopped when he felt an icy cold touch wrap around his wrist.

"It's nothing personal, kid. Just business." With that said, the boy felt a painful cold pierce his lower back. He dropped to the ground struggling to stay awake because he knew that if he fell asleep, he would not wake up again. He swayed on his knees clutching the area the dagger had penetrated and fighting the uneasy urge to be sick.

"Well the job seems to be accomplished. Let's head back and collect our reward."

The boy's vision was blurring and his breathing was becoming shallow. His killers' laughter and the crunching of leaves under their feet as they left seemed to echo in his ears. The boy couldn't take the feeling anymore and decided to that he might as well follow the man's advice and accept his fate. As he slumped to the ground, in a pool of his own blood, he regretted that he had not been able to find his foster father before the assassins had found him. His eyelids slid closed and he finally felt bliss.

'_**AWAKEN ME!' **_

The brown-cloaked men were laughing and discussing their reward when they felt the wind pick up in speed and intensity. Both men looked up to see clouds quickly blocking out the sun and the sky turning an eerie blackish-purple. Then the most peculiar thing happened. They both started to hear the sounds of bells. The first man turned and looked at the boy while the other still had his gaze locked on the sky.

The boy was enveloped in a dark red aura. The first man tapped the other on his shoulder, unable to muster any words to get his associate's attention. As the two criminals looked on, the boy's body started to twitch. He slowly started to stand, but not like a human. More like a zombie, limp and lifeless. The boy turned to look at the men with eyes that could scare a ghost. His eyes no longer had pupils instead his entire eyes were red. He opened his mouth to say something, but it was not the boy's voice they heard.

"_**For whom the bells toll, shall burn in crimson purgatory." **_

The voice that the men heard was horrifying. A chorus of jumbled up voices, both male and female, rang out.

"_**You shall not leave here alive." **_

The criminals were too terrified to respond to the possessed boy. They tried to turn to run, but their legs would not respond to their commands. The boy raised both his hands and magically forced them down to the ground creating a rumble and shockwave.

"_**Demon's Trick: Devil Spawn-Leviathan!"**_

Two magic circles formed around the boy's hands and another rumble could be heard from deep within the earth. Before the men could even blink, a 200-foot long serpent appeared and atop his head stood the demon child. The creature's eyes and the scales that made up its features were as menacing as its teeth were. The serpent let out an ear-piercing screech that snapped both men out of their trances and forced them to cover their ears.

The giant creature then brought its gigantic maw down upon the two screaming men. It grabbed both of the hired killers by their legs and flung them high into the air. On their downward trajectory each man was captured between the teeth of the beast. The boy gave an evil smirk at the sickening sound of bones being crunched and flesh being ripped. He looked down to see organs and intestines fall to the forest beneath him and his creation.

The boy got down on one knee and proceeded to pat the top of his pet's head. The beast lowered its head as close to the ground as possible to let its master off. As soon as the boy was on the ground the beast bowed again, but this time out of respect and then vanished leaving nothing behind except the innards of its victims. Once the devil spawn disappeared, the sky returned to normal and so did the boy.

The child looked around and noticed that the bad men were no longer around. Instead a gory and bloody scene stretched out in front of him. The smell of blood quickly swept over his senses and made him sick to his stomach. He fell to the ground trying to ease his aching stomach. Suddenly he heard a voice cry out.

"You there, boy."

The boy turned around to look at the source of the voice to find an, in his opinion, elderly man standing there looking at him with eyes the size of saucers.

"What the hell happened here…" the man's gaze traced the bloody scene in front of him, "…don't…don't tell me _you_ did all of this!"

The boy trembled. He did not know who this man was. For all he knew he could be with the men who had attacked him earlier. Not having the strength to stand the boy closed his eyes and braced himself for what was to come, knowing that he could die.

"Well, I'm impressed."

The child's eyes shot open at the words.

'_How could he not be horrified by this?'_

The man started to take a few steps closer to the boy but the boy backed away from him.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you. In fact, I'm going to make a proposal."

The boy, visibly eased, showed interest in what the man wanted. Nodding his head showing that he was willing to listen made the man continue.

"Good, how would you like to become a member of my guild?"

The boy was a little skeptical at first, but eventually gave into the temptation at another chance at life.

"Excellent, as of now, my boy, you are a member of Phantom Lord. First things first though…what is your name?"

"N-Natsu Dra-Dragneel, sir."

_**Meanwhile**_

A sickly thin man sat upon his throne in a dark room looking down on one of his subjects who was kneeling and waiting to be acknowledged.

"Was the mission a success?"

"No, my lord it was an utter failure and we also suffered two casualties."

The man on the thrown gave a displeased grunt, "I see…that will be all for now report back to Kristian."

"Yes, my lord," the subject stood and backed away not even looking up until he was completely out of the room.

The man sat down and looked up towards the ceiling. "Natsu Dragneel… you far exceed expectations."


	2. Welcome to the big leagues Part 1

The sun was beginning to rise on what should have been a rather peaceful morning in Fiore. Unfortunately, daybreak did not have much of an effect on the shadow that hung over the guild, Phantom Lord. The guild's master, Jose was absolutely blinded by fury. At that moment he was reading a letter written to him by the Magic Council. He knew that Makarov had put in a request to remove his guild as legal, so it seems with enough complaining the council finally caved. In the letter the Council stated that his guild's past and recent acts of destruction had been inexcusable and that the Phantom Lord Guild was to be disbanded by next month, or it would be considered to be a dark guild.

Jose clenched his fist and brought it down on his desk, effectively breaking the relatively sturdy piece of furniture. "Damn that Makarov!" Jose slumped back down into his seat and let out a sigh as he surveyed the rubble that had been his desk. He then heard a knock on his door.

"Come in."

Two men walked into the room. One was a pale scrawny-looking man who was twitching uncontrollably. The other was a distinctive-looking tall and muscular young man. He had long, spiky black hair and most of his exposed body was covered in sets of simple, round studs. There were three of sets above each of his eyes, three on each side of his nose, and two on his chin, just below his mouth. His most unique features however were the red eyes with dark slitted pupils that dominated his face.

The first of the two men was nothing special in his guild; in fact, Jose didn't even know the man's name. The second; however, was one of the six S-class mages he had in his guild and also one of only two dragon slayers in the guild, Gajeel Redfox.

"What do you two want," Jose said in a cold tone.

The twitching man stepped forward and bowed to Jose. "Well, uh… sir we, uh… you see…we have a problem."

Jose raised an eyebrow at the mention of trouble. Trouble was not unheard of in his guild, but very few had ever dared to bring it to his attention.

"Well, you see, uh… sir i-it's uh…"

Jose got annoyed with the stuttering fool in front of him. "Well, spit it out already," Jose barked in annoyance.

The twitchy man flinched and took a hasty step back from Jose deciding it was best to stay silent for the rest of the time. This time it was the dragon slayer's turn to speak.

"It's Natsu."

Jose's ears perked up at the sound of his favorite and strongest mage. It had been ten years since Jose found Natsu alone in that forest outside of Magnolia. It took had taken Jose a few months to get Natsu to stop calling him "old man", even though he didn't consider himself old at only fifty-three. Most likely Jose never would have stumbled upon his little goldmine of power if he hadn't spotted a 200-foot serpent towering above the trees as he made his way home after a disastrous Guild Meeting in Magnolia. After that first inadvertent summoning as he defended himself against a pair of assassins, Natsu had used his deadly power only once more; luckily it was in front of the majority of the guild members, so now they not only feared him, they also respected him. They also learned not to pick on him about his missing foster-father; the Fire Dragon, Igneel. From what Jose had seen Natsu could not control or summon that power on demand, but it seems to appear whenever Natsu gets emotionally stressed.

"What about Natsu?" Jose's favoritism towards Natsu, the fire dragon slayer, did not go unnoticed by Gajeel.

"He seems to have lost his will to kill," Gajeel said in a slightly irritated tone.

"What do you mean 'lost his will'? From what I remember, he never had one to begin with."

Gajeel sat down without being asked which annoyed Jose, but Gajeel wasn't particularly concerned with the master's anger. He got into a comfortable position and started to tell his story.

"He may not ever have been really inclined toward the art of destruction; which, by the way, is incredibly disappointing because he has so-o-o-o-o-o much natural talent in that area, but he was at least able to carry out a direct order. Now…," Gajeel sighed heavily and shook his head, "Now, I just don't know what to think."

"During our last mission he, well…he…changed and… " Gajeel's tone turned stone cold and serious "…he used his power."

Jose's eyes widened in shock. He had never been informed that Natsu had used that power more than the twice before. Jose looked at Gajeel with a face full of anger, but Gajeel remained unfazed.

"Why was I not informed about this?"

"We felt that there was little need for you to get involved; after all didn't you notice that Natsu's been less emotional lately?"

As a matter of fact, Jose had noticed Natsu's lack of emotions. The boy had always been the happy kid in the guild; much to everybody's dismay since they all thought he was pretty damn annoying. But ever since Natsu came back from the last mission he had secluded himself from the rest of the guild. The only people he made an effort to talk to were Gajeel and Jose.

"Yes, I have noticed Natsu's current emotional condition, but what exactly did you do?"

"It's not what we did; it's what _he_ did."

"Very well. What; exactly, did he do?"

"Well, let's just say that he found a way to kill his emotions."

"Tell me everything that happened on that mission," Jose demanded.

"Are you sure? It could take a while."

Jose sat back in his chair and crossed his legs preparing for the story Gajeel was about to tell. "I have time."

"Alright," Gajeel said with a shrug of his shoulders. "But if I'm going to tell this story I'm going to tell it from the beginning.

Before Gajeel could start they heard another knock at the door. Jose looked at the door in annoyance.

"Come in," he said sharply. At his words, the door opened to reveal none other than Natsu Dragneel. The pink-haired boy walked into the room.

"Master Jose, I wish to take leave for the port city of Hargeon for two days," he said in an emotionless tone.

"Why's that, Natsu?"

"I have heard rumors of a salamander's appearance in the town, and I wish to investigate."

This time it was Gajeel's turn to speak. "You should just give up on Igneel, Natsu. He left for a reason and I'm pretty sure he doesn't want you back."

Natsu looked at Gajeel with the same flat stare that he always seemed to have nowadays. He didn't raise his voice at all as he threatened the man he considered his friend. "I would watch what you say about Igneel if I were you, Gajeel."

A cold chill went up Gajeel's spine. He truly feared Natsu due to the dark power that the boy had inside of him and he made a mental note to not insult Natsu's foster father again.

Jose's voice broke the tense silence, "Very well Natsu; I will allow this."

With a bow and a cool "thank you" Natsu left.

"Anyway, back to the matter at hand," Jose said.

"Right, so it started off like this."

***Flashback***

"Gajeel, let's go on a mission," said a salmon-haired boy.

"Not now, kid, I'm eating," Gajeel said between bites.

"Who are you calling a kid; you're only two years older than me."

"As long as I'm older than you I can call you a kid." Gajeel looked at Natsu and gave him a smug grin.

"Whatever, are we gonna go or not?"

Gajeel belched and picked up his napkin to wipe his mouth. Once he finished wiping his face he looked at Natsu and gave a toothy grin. "Alright," he relented, "go pick one out."

Natsu beamed with happiness and started to bounce up and down in his seat. He dashed towards the mission board and pushed the other guild member who had been looking at it out of the way. Gajeel laughed at the guild member who found himself diving face-first into the floorboards as a result of Natsu's eagerness. Even though the boy was pretty damn annoying, Gajeel still had taken him under his wing and taught him everything he knew about being a dragon slayer.

Natsu slammed a piece of paper on the table and slid it over to Gajeel. Gajeel glanced at it. "So which one did you get?"

"I don't know, but it's S-class so that's good enough for me."

Gajeel nodded his head in understanding and swiped the paper from him. "Let's see here… okay, we're to free a village from a group of bandits… seems simple enough."

"Alright! Let's go!"

For a split second Gajeel felt uneasy about the mission.

'_Why S-class for a small group of bandits?'_

Quickly shaking the thought from his head, he set off after the pink blur barreling down the road.

_**One hour later**_

A very sick-looking Natsu was draped over the carriage's window sill. His face was a seaweed-like green color and his cheeks were fully extended as he struggled to keep the vomit from escaping. As the wave of motion sickness washed over him he started to speak. "Why'd you let me do this?"

Gajeel, unlike most dragon slayers, had little problem with motion sickness. "You're the one who wanted to get there so badly, so quit your blubbering and just sit there."

Forgetting his nausea for a moment, Natsu shot up from his seat. "Well if we waited any longer who knows what the bandits could be doing!" The boy slumped back down in his seat feeling his sickness creep up on him once again.

"For once, you're right. We can't afford to let those people suffer any longer."

The horse neighed and the carriage slowed down.

Natsu sat up and looked at Gajeel with a smirk. Before Gajeel could even question the look, Natsu was sitting next to him and elbowing his arm. "Gajeel, if I didn't know any better I'd say you actually _cared _about the villagers."

Gajeel started to feel flustered until he noticed that the cart had stopped. "Wait… why'd we stop?"

Natsu also perked up at the realization that hit him. "Yeah…" Natsu poked his head out the window to yell at the driver. "…hey buddy, wh-oh shit!" Natsu quickly tucked his head back into the carriage and ducked.

Gajeel was about to question why Natsu was acting so strangely until he felt an explosion outside the carriage. "What the hell was that?!"

Gajeel and Natsu both ran outside to see what the disturbance was when they heard a scream. They looked scanned the area and noticed a group of men surrounding a small girl, who looked to be no older than ten.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing to her?" Natsu's shout was enough to get the attention of all five men.

"**Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" **Before the ruffians could react to the interruption, one was punched across the face and sent flying into the trunk of a nearby tree.

"You little brat!" yelled one of the other bandits.

Natsu twitched at the name that was given to him once again. "I'm not a brat!" Natsu puffed up his cheeks and let the fire from his belly loose. **"Fire Dragon's Roar!" **The fire that was released from his mouth enveloped two of the remaining four men, leaving only two still standing.

"**Mind Constriction!" **That was all Natsu heard before he was surrounded by a white light.

While Natsu fought the bandits, Gajeel attended to their victim. He knelt down and looked the girl straight in her eyes. By the faraway look in those eyes, he knew she wouldn't be able to speak until the commotion was over.

Gajeel turned towards Natsu and noticed that the noise of battle had stopped. Natsu was standing above the motionless bodies of the five bandits. Something about the boy's stillness concerned Gajeel. "Hey Natsu, you okay?"

The lack of response aroused Gajeel's suspicions. With no warning Natsu turned and swung at Gajeel. Quickly stepping back in confusion, Gajeel lost his balance and fell. "Natsu, what the hell are you doing?!"

Again there was no response. Instead Gajeel noticed a growing shadow above him and he looked up to see Natsu plummeting towards him with an outstretched foot. Acting quickly, Gajeel did a backwards summersault and flipped into a one-handed hand stand, trying to balance himself. Once he was back on his feet and finally prepared for the attack he heard one of the bandits cackle.

"It's no use trying to talk to him. As long as I have this spell on him his body does what I tell it to do."

Gajeel smirked, "Well that's good, I've been meaning to kick his ass for getting on my nerves too often." Gajeel turned his attention back to the fire dragon slayer and aimed his hand at him. **"Iron Dragon's Club." **A large iron rode extended from his arm and slammed into Natsu, who showed no signs of resistance.

Again Natsu's body charged at Gajeel and the bandit slung the boy's arm forward. The sloppy nature of the attack made it easy for Gajeel to avoid the swing.

Gajeel smirked and addressed the puppet master, "I think I've finally figured out your magic's weak point."

The bandit gave an equally sinister grin, "Oh, please enlighten me."

"You can force the boy's body to do your bidding, but you can't force his magic to serve you."

The bandit's eyes widened and his grin turned into glower.

"So, do I win a prize?" Gajeel said oozing with sarcasm.

"You arrogant bastard!" the bandit screamed showing his aggravation.

Natsu's body was once again on the attack swinging left and right trying to hit Gajeel's jaw.

"Wow, Natsu, have you gotten sloppy or what?!" Gajeel ducked avoiding a quick jab from Natsu.

Gajeel stood back up and sent a fist towards the boy's body, but he noticed that Natsu was no longer trying to attack him.

Natsu lifted his head, "Uh? What happened?"

Gajeel tried to stop his fist from hitting Natsu, but the momentum he had picked up was too strong to stop. His fist was connected with Natsu's face and sent him flying into a nearby bush.

Natsu shat up and rubbed his face vigorously, trying to ease the pain Gajeel had caused. "What the hell was that for!?"

Gajeel gave Natsu a nervous shrug and a cheeky grin.

"Wait…" Gajeel looked over at the man who had been controlling Natsu and found him on the ground in a pool of his own blood. Standing above the man was the girl they rescued and in her hand was a bloody dagger.

The last remaining bandit's eyes were wide and he was shacking with fear as he stared at his fallen comrade. His cowardly expression turned to one of anger as he stared viciously at the girl. He raised his hand and brought it down on the girl's face. She yelped in pain and stumbled a few feet backwards into Natsu lap.

Natsu caught the girl as she fell. Gajeel looked at the little girl in Natsu's lap; she was banged up, but nothing worse than a few scratches and bruises. He turned to see the last bandit running in the opposite direction.

Natsu walked up behind Gajeel with the girl on his back in a piggy-back style. She wasn't knocked unconscious, but she was sleeping. She seems to be emotionally drained."

"Gajeel, look at the carriage."

Gajeel did as he was told and looked to see the driver and the horse both lying on the ground dead with the front part of the carriage destroyed. "Shit, looks like we're walking."

"Wow, shows how much you care. Poor guy must have been caught in the explosion earlier."

"Shut up!"

The girl on Natsu's back stirred at the loud noise.

"Shhh, we don't want to wake her up," Natsu looked up towards the sky to see that the sun was getting ready to set. "Hey Gajeel, it's getting pretty late maybe we should set camp up for the night."

Gajeel sighed, "Yeah, I guess that would be a good idea."

"Alright, here," Natsu walked over to Gajeel and placed the little girl in his arms. "Take her to the clearing over there while I get whatever remains of our stuff."

Gajeel was impressed with the maturity that Natsu was showing at the moment. "When did you become the mature one?"

"Shut up and do what you're told."

"But…"

"We don't have time for this."

Gajeel felt his self-respect decrease at the way he did what Natsu told him. He walked over to the grassy clearing and placed the girl down on her back, with her arms by her side. Then he headed into the nearby woods and started collecting loose pieces of logs. When he thought he had a decent amount of firewood he made his way back to the clearing. To his surprise there was already a fire roaring in the middle of the clearing and Natsu was already sitting down cross-legged by the fire.

'_Leave it to the candlestick to start a fire so easily.' _

He walked towards his suitcase and pulled out a can of beans. He sat down on the opposite side of the fire and started to cook his beans.

"So, who do you think she is?"

"Hell if I know. The real question is; what do we do with her?"

"Well, we can't leave her here."

Gajeel slowly nodded his head in agreement. As much as he didn't want to do it, they had no other choice. "We'll have to take her with us."

Natsu looked up at Gajeel with uncertain eyes, "Are you sure, I mean, the mission we're going on is no joke."

"I know that, but we can't send her some place safe due to the driver's… condition," Gajeel shot a glace towards the ashy remains of the driver and horse.

While the guys were talking they noticed that the girl had started to stir and her eyes fluttered open. Both Gajeel and Natsu froze, not wanting to scare the girl after the traumatic event she had just gone through. She slowly sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She looked around in confusion until her eyes landed on Natsu and Gajeel.

Natsu eased to his feet gently and took a few steps towards her. "Hey there, I know this mus…," before Natsu could say another word the girl let out a wailing scream.

Gajeel and Natsu cringed at the high frequency noise being emitted by the small girl and covered their ears. Natsu struggled to get closer so that he could calm her down, but with every step he took she just got louder. He finally abandoned his attempt to gently calm the girl and simply dropped down to his knees and covered her mouth with his hand, effectively silencing the noise.

The girl struggled against Natsu's grip, but Natsu wouldn't let go.

"Hey, hey, hey…listen, listen…"

The girl's thrashing became less violent at the sound of his voice.

"Okay good. Now listen to me… I'm going to let go, but you have to promise not to scream, understand?"

The girl's slight nod confirmed that she was willing to listen.

"Okay," Natsu slowly pulled his hand away from the girl's face.

He breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't immediately start screaming again. "Alright, first off, we're not going to hurt you… we're the ones who saved you."

The girl looked at him as though she wanted to believe him, but wasn't quite willing to trust a boy she had never met before.

"Can you speak?"

"Y-yes," her voice came out as a high-pitched squeak.

"What's your name?"

"What's yours?" she shot back quickly.

Gajeel gave an appreciative smirk and knelt down beside Natsu facing the girl. "You're nobody's fool kid. I respect that. My name's Gajeel and this here's Natsu," he pointed first to himself then to Natsu.

"My name's Claire."

"Nice to meet you, Claire," Gajeel nodded in greeting, "So, what were you doing out here all by yourself?"

"I was looking for help."

"Why were you seeking help?"

"Our village was overrun by bandits and it was taking so long for a guild to send help so I thought I could go get help myself and…," the girl's voice wavered.

"And the bandits chased you to this spot. I get it," Gajeel finished for her

"Yeah, th-thanks for helping, by the way," she said remembering her manners.

"It was no trouble at all!" Natsu chimed in enthusiastically, "Wait," he paused as a sudden thought occurred to him, "What's your village's name?"

"Tully, why?"

"Gajeel," Natsu poked his friend, "Isn't that the name of the village where we were headed?"

Gajeel reached into his back pocket and pulled out the job description. "Yep, you're right. Tully Village."

Claire's face brightened at the name of her village. "So, does that mean you're going to get rid of all the bad guys?"

Natsu gave a toothy smile and optimistic thumbs-up. "You bet, just you wait. We'll kick all their asses!"

Natsu's comment was met with a smack to the back of his head. "Language, Dude! She's ten!"

"Sorry," Natsu lowered his head in shame.

Their conversation was interrupted with the sound of a growling stomach. Claire flushed.

"That's right; with all the excitement that happened today I bet you're hungry."

Claire nodded her head at the mention of food.

Without missing a beat Gajeel was standing in front of the two with his pot of beans. "What some beans?"

Natsu knocked the pot out of Gajeel's hands spilling the contents all over the ground.

"She doesn't want any of your nasty beans!"

"How would you know? You didn't even give her the chance to respond!"

"Just you wait I'll make a meal that will put your beans to shame!"

Claire giggled at the comical way that the two were bickering. She had a feeling that her village was in good hands.

_**30 minutes later**_

"Wow this is delicious, Natsu. Wouldn't you agree Gajeel?" Claire had just tried one of Natsu best cooked dishes; grilled boar.

"I still would have preferred my beans," Gajeel pouted over the loss of his beans, but ate the meat regardless.

"Thanks Claire. Skewered it m'self."

After they finished off the rest of the boar Gajeel and Claire retired to opposite sides of the still glowing fire to sleep. Natsu, on the other hand, found that he was still too wound up for sleep. He gazed up at the night sky and replayed the day's events in his mind.

"Natsu?"

Natsu sat up from his prone position and turned to find Claire standing behind him.

"Yeah, you okay?"

"I just couldn't sleep."

Natsu patted the grass next to him. "Well, come and join me then."

She complied and sat down next to him. "Do you like the stars, Natsu?"

Natsu did not look at her, but continued to stare upward. "Yes I do, very much. Do you?"

Claire looked up at the stars. "Yeah, I think they're pretty."

Natsu chuckled at the simplicity of the statement. He found Claire and her statement endearing. "Yes, they are pretty. Do you see any constellations out tonight?"

"What are constellations?"

"Well, you see, they're like pictures made out of the stars," Natsu moved closer. "See those stars right there," he pointed at a band of bright stars.

"Yeah, what about them?"

"That's a constellation; it's called Ursa Major also known as The Great Bear."

Claire pointed at random stars among the sky. "What about that those?"

Natsu laughed. "Those are just stars. But those," Natsu showed her another cluster of stars, "Those right there make up the constellation Hercules."

Claire looked at a few more hoping that this time she got one. "Is that a constellation?"

"Yes it is. That one's Pisces, The Fish."

Claire smiled at the confirmation Natsu gave her. After a few more minutes of silent star gazing she yawned.

"Alright, I think it's about time we got you to sleep."

"But I'm not tired," her earlier statement was proven false at another yawn.

"Yeah, whatever."

"Natsu?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind if I slept with you tonight?"

Natsu raised an eyebrow at her question, "Claire, you're ten years old. You're too old for that."

"I don't know where you guys got this _ten-years-old_ thing because I'm actually eight. And besides, I'm still a little scared from earlier."

Natsu's stare softened. "Alright, I guess it wouldn't hurt," Natsu slid onto his sleeping mat and lifted the cover for her to enter. "Well, come on, Squirt, we don't want the cold air getting in."

As soon as she was next to Natsu, Claire snuggled into his chest feeling protected in the warmth he was emitting. He fell asleep quickly this time and she felt his arm wrap around her in a protective manner. She was asleep within minutes.

Gajeel had been awake the entire time and listening to them as they talked. He was seriously afraid of what might happen tomorrow. But as the deep, relaxed breathing of his companions filled the night air, he let his worries wash away and allowed sleep to creep over him.


End file.
